Here's another blast from our past that I don't believe has been mentioned. Those of you that remember them, which stamps went with which chain? Who had the best stuff IYHO?

Down here, from what I remember: S&H green stamps was primarly Publix Triple S Blue Stamps was Grand Union, Grand Way, Stevens supermarkets. Plaid was A&P Winn Dixe, back then known mostly as Kwick Check had Top Value yellow stamps. Food Fair/Pantry Pride issued Merchant Green Stamps. King Korn Stamps were primarly gas station stamps and indie stores. There were a few old chains that vaporized or were aborbed by the big chains that issued them. Their catalog from what I remember had the best stuff.

The redemption centers were very much like the early Service Merchandise Showrooms. You looked at the stuff on the shelves or the catalog, wroted down the catalog number and they verified your books of stamps and put them immediately in a device that punched a hole through each possible stamp postion in the book. In some cases, they didn't stock the item and you'd have to pick it up at a later date. Otherwise, you went to a delivery area where the item was pulled out of stock and handed to you.

The dispensers in the stores were first manual with the operator either dispensing the individual stamps from a roll type machine. Some had a dial like a telephone IIRC. Later ones were generated automatically. You had to be careful not to get shorted as it was up to the check out operator to determine the correct amount. Some products in the store had labels for double stamps, some specials listed in the paper or a coupon also increased how many you got. People seemed to be more interested in making sure they got all their stamps then if the products were rung up correctly....no barcode scanning for you younger folks. Direct entry from blue ink stamps or labels on the products and lots of room for error that was never in your favor.

All I know is I was ecstatic when someone invented the 100 stamp "stamp" No more pasting all those damn stamps in books with a wet sponge. My mother used to go crazy over stamps and we'd have pounds of them sitting around waiting to be put in boooks

Growing up in Indianapolis, we got Top Value (yellow stamps) as well as S&H Green stamps. I'm not sure which grocers offered which ones, but my mother mostly shopped at Kroger and A&P. I seem to remember that we got more Top Value stamps than green stamps. My family saved them up and used them to buy things like folding card tables and a Weber grill, but I also recall that I used the Top Value stamps to "buy" stuff for my freshman year college dorm room.

When I was in college at Northwestern in Evanston, Weiboldt's department store (now out of business) used to give green stamps with your purchase, and I remember getting a bunch of them when I bought a formal gown there. I used them to get a silver/crystal vase for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary.

In the late 60s, my mother did S&H Green stamps for a time. There were also some gold colored ones, the name of which I can't remember. I know that she got a very nice high end mixer with them that she would never have spent the money on herself, which she still has and uses.

I wish I had a dollar for every book of S&H Green Stamps that my mother filled when I was a kid. She got them primarily at the long-gone National supermarket chain that had stores throughout the Chicago area until about 25 or 30 years ago.

Being only 40, I came along as the trading stamps were fading (my primary knowledge of them comes from the Brady Bunch). But I do remember that Safeway still had stamps into the 80s (complete with the dial dispensers mentioned above), and one of my pre-teen chores was helping Mom stamp all the stamps down into the books. Blech.

My partner used to work for The Carlson Companies (the company formerly known as the Gold Bond Trading Stamp Company, and knowing all about those golden years in the company's history was required; they issued you a copy of Curt Carlson's biography, Good As Gold, when you started workign there) when they tried to re-invent the concept electronically as Gold Points with electronic cards. For a while (around '97) they had a lot of partners (Carlson-owned stuff like Radisson and TGI Fridays, plus a lot of other ones like Rainbow Foods, Tires Plus, and a some other random ones). One of the perks of working for Carlson is that every once in a while they'd have to clean out the warehouse of items that weren't too popular, and they'd take employee bids on them. I still have a coffee table that she bid $4 for. The system, however, turned out not to be too successful, and all of the non-Carlson partners dropped by 1999 and it essentially became Radisson's hotel loyalty program (now renamed the Carlson Club).

In the early 80's, I was Director of Merchandising & Distribution with Truckstops of America. We were the largest distributor of Gold Bond Stamps and I was the Liaison person with them. Truckers loved them! Put a couple hundred gallons in the tank and get a bunch of them! The stamps were the Cash Cow that built the Carlson Companies Empire out of Minnesota.